Champion of Deep Space
by PipeFoxRyn
Summary: Shepherd has picked up some…unexpected passengers when their shuttle crash lands on an uncharted planet. Hawke and Varric at least seem intrigued by their new companions, but this 'Fenris'...it's going to be a bumpy ride.
1. New Encounters

**CHAMPION OF DEEP SPACE. **

**Chapter 1- New Encounters**

_**OK, this is my first story and I'm really nervous. PLEASE give me feedback (if anyone actually reads it!) I really want to continue with this.**_

Hawke could only stare. His mouth was slightly gaped and his Keening Blade hung limp from his hands. Beyond him, nestled within the ancient rock, was...well, he couldn't be sure.

"Hawke...what in Andraste's name is..." Varric began to steady Bianca as he spoke, and he could sense Fenris shift his bare feet into an aggressive stance.

The strange metal glinted in the fire light and made odd patterns reflect off the stone golems lining the underground hall.

They had only been in the Deep Roads for a few days, when one of their scouting trips was...rudely interrupted. The roof had shaken furiously and they had all run for cover as the walls had given way to this smooth, metallic mass in front of them.

"Hawke!" He ignored Fenris and cleared curiously past the sea of rubble. Hawke put his wide hand to the warm surface and wiped away the dirt.

"It looks like Ferelden lettering. An N?" asked Varric.

"Yes. And the numeral 7. Though this is certainly not of any land I have encountered."

Suddenly the rubble started to shift, they all stepped back and gripped their respective weapons. A part of the metallic structure vibrated and began rising into the air.

"DARKSPAWN! GET BACK AND..."

"NOBODY MOVE. WE HAVE NO INTENTION OF FIRING."

Hawke floundered as a plethora of nightmarish creatures crouched defensively at the newly found entrance, holding foreign contraptions. Hawke gripped the hilt of his sword and roared as his legs carried him towards what he could only explain as dark spawn abominations. A loud noise suddenly penetrated the air so sharply that the 3 of them stumbled in shock, as something plummeted into the floor dangerously next to Hawke's foot. They stared incredulously at the beings ahead of them, standing in their strange armour, and the source of the noise stepped forward.

"Do you understand my words?"

Hawke couldn't believe it. The clear slow speech had come from a female, a human looking female, who stood side by side with the evolved darkspawn. Her strong arm was outstretched holding what he presumed was the weapon; she had cutting features framed by red mid-length hair and eyes that seemed to sink into him. Knowing he was out-powered, and also intrigued by the group, he answered. "Who are you?"

"I am the Spectre Commander J Shepard of the SSV Normandy. And I mean you no harm."

…

Shepard had seen a lot over the years, different planets, different species, but this...felt very different. She surveyed the group in front of her, both wary and curious. The hairy one was practically half her size, but looked like a human man, and his aim hadn't wavered off her. The man she assumed to be their leader was tall, had dark features and a scar across his nose (not half bad looking either), but it was the other one she felt uneasy about. She guessed he was male, but Shepard had never seen anyone wielding such a weapon, with so...little protection and of such a delicate stature. His skin seemed to glow almost, in strange designs akin to some sort of tribal allegiance...the soft white hair...but god, those eyes. She felt them watching her, with none of the curiosity of the others, but simply dark pools.

"We mean you no harm." Shepard repeated herself, stepped forward and slowly lowered her Crossfire assault rifle. Garrus shifted uncomfortably but did follow suit. She assumed Mordin would be doing the same.

"Why should I trust a friend of the darkspawn?" Before Shepard could reply a silver flash whipped past the rubble and she was thrown harshly against the shuttle. "Don't fire!" She shouted to her team, and looked straight into those disturbing eyes. He had a thin, elegant dagger thrust close to her throat, and his left arm was firmly below her chest pressing her back. Shepard didn't flinch, but she did have to stop herself from gasping as his warm body pressed up against hers. He looked like he'd never smiled in his life.

"Mordin, go check out what happened to our engines." She vaguely saw surprise on the man's face, he obviously thought her to be in a more vulnerable situation. The thought made her lips curl into a smile, as she slowly pressed the tip of her once hidden pistol into her attacker's stomach, not once leaving his gaze.

The short man called softly to his friend, "Fenris, I do not believe this to be a fight that needs having." The man named Fenris stepped back, seemingly relieved that no one had seen he'd actually been out-manoeuvred by the Commander.

"Fenris is it? I don't appreciate the souvenir you've left me with." Shepard raised her hand and stroked away the blood coming from a small nick in her neck. He merely sheathed his dagger.

She finally turned to the leader. "I don't know what the hell 'darkspawn' are, but these here are my team. They're just as safe as me." Garrus growled slightly in amusement.

"To be fair, they sure don't look like darkspawn." The short man paused. "I'm Varric. You've met our own laid back happy elf man Fenris, and this is Hawke, Champion of Kirkwall." She nodded at the polite introductions, but noticed they all stood ready for action at a moment's notice.

"When you lot have stopped having your cute little get to know each other session, could someone explain where the hell we are?" But before anyone had the chance to reply to the Turian, a low throated war cry began to shudder across the cave walls.

"Actual darkspawn." Hawke began to grin and the 3 of them immediately ignored the space visitors and turned, poised ready for battle.

"Mordin, continue with the engines and shields, Garrus, get into cover and await my instructions." They both sprung into their positions behind two large boulders, twisted slightly so they could just see what was happening. Garrus inadvertently widened his eyes and gaped, as a huge mass of lumbering, malformed creatures came charging round the corner...looking almost as disgusting as the Vorcha...

Some sort of sharp, slow bullet sprang from Varric's weapon, and the other two ran directly at the horde.

….

Hawke had never seen so many darkspawn, not even when running from Lothering, and as he tucked his shield to across his front, his sword plunged into a Hurlock Vanguard, struggling a little with the beast. With a roar he then began to strike at all that came towards him. Genlocks were swarming around the party, he saw Bianca used to bash in one of their heads, and briefly caught of glimpse of burning lyrium from Fenris. An archer caught Hawke gruffly on the shoulder, but he powered forward slashing as he went, and he could almost feel that woman's eyes on him…watching their progress. Out from the cave turning however came something that would turn the tide of battle. "OGRE!" Hawke heard Varric's yell, and looked up from his punctured Hurlock prey to see not one but two of the creatures, followed swiftly by even more of the Archdemon's minions. The scene seemed to go into slow motion, as Fenris was struck across the back by one of the ogres, he let out a controlled grunt of pain and his legs buckled under the force. Eyes widened, Hawke ran forward, only to be overwhelmed by more darkspawn. He barely clocked the flying pieces of metal as Shepard and Garrus joined the fray, "WE NEED TO FALL BACK!" he screamed to the aliens. It wouldn't have been a difficult fight, were it not for a tired party and weapons that hadn't seen repairs since they'd left Kirkwall. Hawke fought off Genlocks and lifted the unconscious and bleeding elf by his arms, only looking up to see the strange woman helping him.

…..

Barely noticing the blood all over her very expensive spectre-class-only armour, Shepard joined in half dragging; half carrying Fenris back to the shuttle, covered by Garrus and Varric. "MORDIN, CAN SHE FLY?" They were close enough to hear his babbling, but she didn't listen and simply moved onto the craft, the strange new species with her. There was a moment of blind panic in Hawke's eyes as he realised how much trust they were putting in her, but she merely nodded and ordered them to hold on as the shuttle began to shift.

"DON'T WORRY, OUR DOCTOR WILL HAVE HIM THREATENING WOMEN AGAIN IN NO TIME!" She yelled over the clash of metal, engines and horrific cries of the attackers…and smirked at her jibe. As Mordin finally got the shuttle going back up its crash landing course, everyone on board began to wonder what they'd got themselves into.


	2. Madness Descends

**CHAMPION OF DEEP SPACE**

Thank you so much to everyone who has commented or subscribed…I'm really excited about some of the ideas I have so please keep reading, and let me know what you think, I'll try and update everyday if people like it!

**Chapter 2- Madness descends.**

_The sky was burning, as if reflecting the blood that had saturated into the once fertile land. It was burning above him, and all he could was keep running. He had hold of his sister's wrist, tightly pulling her along, his eyesight starting to fuzz from the day that had been. But they kept coming. They kept screaming. And then…oh the skies it came shaking the ground below it! The earth trembled; his mother cried out…the blood. So much…NO! BETHANY NO! PLEASE!_

"BETHANY!" Hawke sat up so sharply his head began to spin, sweat rippling down from his hairline. He had another shock when he looked around…and it took him some time to remember where he was. Hawke swung his legs around to the side of the bed, and closed his eyes, willing that yesterday had never happened. "Hawke what the…?" Varric had awoken to his scream, "Nothing. Sorry. Go back to sleep, it's still early." Hawke actually had no idea what time it was, there was no sun to calculate by, no wind to fall into, no sound of…he shook his head. This was no time to get worried. Standing, he made his way through the darkness, only a low humming coming from the vessel to guide him.

…..

The stars didn't seem to be…'twinkling' this morning. They sort of just sat there, surrounded by the thick black blanket… "Wish I had a blanket…" Shepard said out-loud to the black. Samara had gone for a few days to visit the Citadel… (although under what pretence she wasn't all too sure), but it meant she had the observation deck to herself. She was curled up by the window, arms around herself, knees to her chin. Thoughts of that… 'elf' had they called him? Well. Whatever he was, he kept swimming in and out of her mind. And it was getting irritating. Shepard sniffed, and decided 3 hours was certainly not enough sleep for the mission she had ahead of her.

"Oh, urm, sorry, I didn't…" The door had opened onto a bedraggled and slightly flustered Hawke. "I was just…trying to get my bearings." Shepard smiled, and without saying anything led him back into the glow of the universe.

"This place is amazing. I never would have thought it…" He sighed, and rubbed his eyes.

"This must be a lot to take in. I can only apologise again for having you come with us."

"I know there was no choice. How is Fenris doing by the way?"

"Dr Chakwas seems to think he'll be fine. We'll have to be careful she doesn't keep him in for tests…" She chuckled to herself, but stopped when she saw the look on Hawke's face, "She won't actually…."

Only the evening before, they had picked up 3 beings on an uncharted planet they'd found in the Armstrong Nebula…even EDI hadn't picked up on it though. After one of them was badly wounded, they simply had to get out of there. The crew's faces were a sight to behold when Joker brought the shuttle in, but nowhere near as shocked as the faces of their guests. She had refrained from explaining things, insisting they slept first. They had been too overwhelmed to argue.

"In the name of Andraste WHY DID YOU BRING US?" Hawke suddenly slammed his fists on the floor, "I don't even know where we are! How will you get us back? Could this be part of the fade?" Slowly sitting back, as if seeing clearly he spoke more, "Yes…yes perhaps an unexplored part of the fade, of course of course! All those strange creatures, they must be demons…and you…YOU! YOU LEAD US TO THEM!" His eyes took on a new form and Shepard fell backwards as Hawke reached out his hands and grasped her shoulders, he began to shake them violently.

"HAWKE! Calm down! Calm! Please!"

"WHAT ARE YOU? COME OUT GREED DEMON!" His right hand moved to her throat, slamming her head into the floor making Shepard cry out in shock.

"No…Haw…ke…" Her hands grappled at him, choking more as he put his knee onto her stomach, pressing hard. "DIE! DIE AND SEND US BACK!" His eyes…they were on fire. Madness flared within them, and her sight started to go black…his black hair flew in and out of her vision, fuzzy…fuzz…

"Argh!" The weight was all at once released, Shepard clenched forward desperately gasping for breath and throwing her hands vulnerably to her stomach, and she could barely make out Garrus' rough yelling. "Don't…don't hurt him Garr…" She began to cough, and she felt strong arms pick her up, his blue armour jutting into her forehead, before placing her onto a seat. She felt him turn back. "I'll kill you."

"Garrus no…I order you to stop…"

Hawke was screaming now, hands across his face, scratching and clawing, until Garrus took hold of his chin, lifted him into the air, and made a small, quick click of it. "GARRUS!"

"It's OK. He's just unconscious." Shepard sighed and went back to that nice old past-time of breathing. "He caught me by surprise. I couldn't even fight back. We need to get them home; they _will_ go mad out here. In the blackness." She glanced briefly out of the observation window, knowing that feeling well. Her first time off the colony on an Alliance ship had been…thought provoking. "We've got the full meeting tomorrow. I'm sure Miranda will be able to say something. Even if it is completely irrelevant." Garrus chuckled lowly and brushed her shoulder gently, carrying Hawke along on his back.

Shepard sat a few minutes more, nursing her neck, and decided to go check on the Med Bay's latest arrival.


	3. Shadows

Thank you so much if you're still reading! I'm really enjoying writing this, but PLEASE PLEASE leave a review! I know my writing isn't great, so if you have any ideas please feel free! Also, as I'm sure you're aware, I do not own Mass Effect or Dragon Age (alas!), and just to let you know I am British, and may occasionally use words without realising! I.E. Pissed=angry. I remember many of my American friends thinking it meant something rather different x3

**CHAMPION OF DEEP SPACE**

**Chapter 3- Shadows**

He seemed...so pained. His eyes were shut tight, eyelids flickering as if in a bad dream, and those streams of silver...she lightly ran her fingertip over the part on his arm...they had a low glow to them that cast a strange light on everything around. Shepard cocked her head slightly, and kept her finger following the river of light down his arm, entranced, she reached his hands and stopped, letting her fingers bask in the strange glimmering light. The breath was stolen out of her body as the hand flipped and grasped her wrist hard, Fenris pulled himself up quickly and twisted her arm so she could only gasp at the sudden pain. Shepard looked straight at him, faces barely an inch away, as he bared his teeth and seethed at her. "Am I so alien to you? That you capture me? Where the hell am I?" His voice was low, head slightly tipped forward in an attempt to intimidate her. "Let go. I don't want to hurt you." Shepard spoke calmly, never leaving his gaze, and trying to hide the fact her heart was beating 5 times the normal rate.

He laughed low in his throat, "Yes, because you're in a great position to hurt..." she took her cue and interrupted him by pushing her imprisoned arm forward, twisting, and forcing him back onto the medical bed, one arm across his weakened body, the other holding his free hand down.

"Taking advantage of someone who is injured." His eyes narrowed at her.

"A, you cannot yet grasp how little I care about how alien you are, in fact you'll find out soon enough how funny that is. B, I didn't capture you, we rescued you from a nasty blow to the back that incapacitated you. C, you're on my ship. The SSV Normandy. Feel privileged, elf boy." She released him and stepped backwards. "Ship? This looks like no ship I have ever stepped upon." Fenris sat back up slowly, finally groaning at his aching muscles as the pain kicked in.

"I'm not completely sure what other kind of ship there could be. How are you feeling?" He looked oddly shocked by her question, and at the kindness in her voice.

"I'll be fine. Where are Hawke and Varric?"

"Asleep. I hope. I believe they're both...rather tired." She thought back to her struggle with Hawke...to the madness in his eyes. "You need to rest a little while longer. Your in no way fit for duty yet."

"Duty?"

"Ah sorry, slip of the tongue. Also, I don't think you're going to like what I have to tell you."

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Gardner had made a large breakfast for them all, and Garrus had managed to clear the mess hall of the crew, who simply couldn't stop staring at the new arrivals. The short, fat, hairy one was digging into his plate of what looked to the Turian like something that would give him a severe allergic reaction. Their leader (Garrus' mandibles flicked in anger at the night's events), was poking his food, eyes darting back and forth watching everyone, trying to take in everything. And that other one, the one whom Shepard couldn't seem to keep her eyes off, he simply sat and stared. Garrus glanced over at the Commander, clocking the dark under the eyes, and watching as she briefly licked her lips, as if unsure how to proceed.

"I...I really don't understand. How..." Shepard turned towards the blue ball of electronic light, "EDI how the fuck have we never even heard of this planet before? How the fucking fuck have they never even thought about space travel!" Garrus had flinched slightly at her swearing, it was rare, and he had been around the humans enough to see she was feeling out of her depth.

"I am sorry Commander. I do not have any prior knowledge or archival evidence to suggest that the planet has ever been explored before." EDI flickered slightly, as if in annoyance...if AIs could do such a thing.

Garrus finally went to sit down, next to Jacob...his face as...placid as ever. "Look, first thing's first we take them back."

"No, we have to tell the Illusive Man first. I can't believe we haven't already Commander." Miranda was sat there, arms crossed across her new black suit, looking pissed like always.

"Fascinating. Like a river. Were they burnt? I would love to research Commander. Would be good for future projects. Biotic perhaps." Fenris shot a nasty glare at Mordin, who was hovering around him, trying to get a closer look. "Get away from me. You're an abomination in the eyes of the Maker and so help me if I do not thrust my sword into you..." Fenris had stood now, but before Garrus could do anything Shepard had moved forward.

"Insult my team, and you'll have me to deal with. Mordin is merely interested, don't take it so damn personal."

"Says the woman who practically kidnapped us!"

"We SAVED you. And now we're trying to figure out how to solve this, when we actually have a damn galaxy to save!"

"I couldn't care less about your 'galaxy', this is your fault, you and your demon companions are just lucky we haven't sliced you all open yet!"

"Brave words from someone who had to be saved by one of my companions!" Voices were being raised now, everyone had shifted, but no one dared interrupt, and Garrus was oddly intrigued by this new side to his Commander...she looked so...strong...

"I WAS ONLY HURT, BECAUSE OUR FIGHT WAS HAMPERED BY YOU!"

"Hey, Fenris come on..."

"Shut up Dwarf!" His eyes were flaring now, and he moved closer to Shepard, likely not realising everyone had pistols at the ready just in case.

"You need to learn some respect." She'd gone right up to him now, glaring into his face, where his markings seemed to be pulsating.

"I will never respect the likes of you, you disgusting whore..." the whole room went still as Shepard's palm caught him square around the jaw, his head turned with the force, and his eyes widened in anger.

"Woah OK, let's just sit down an..." Fenris pushed past the Dwarf who had since come to help, and charged towards Shepard, almost howling. "YOU!" It was only a few seconds before Jacob and Garrus had hold of his arms, and had pinned him to the ground, holding his squirming body as he shouted. Shepard was refusing to look at him, eyes shifting off in several directions, "We'll resume at 1100 hours, in the Comm room, just Miranda, Hawke and myself please." With that she turned on her heel, hoping no one had seen her cheeks flush.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

"It's Miranda right?"

"Yes...Hawke do come in. Take a seat." He did as he was told, and quickly surveyed the room.

"What's up? We've got the briefly in just under an hour..."

"Yes, I'm sorry to disturb you." He couldn't keep still. This vessel...it made him...nervous. "I just...wanted to talk. And you...you seemed the most..."

"Normal?" She chuckled as he nodded. If only he knew. "You seem agitated. Very agitated. And I um, heard about what happened with the Commander."

Hawke gulped, rather uncharacteristically. In all honesty, he could tell she found him attractive, and he needed an...ally, among these beings. Someone to keep him in the loop. "Yes. I guess it's not sinking in. Would you mind, telling me more about where we are? Who you are, what...everyone else is?" He tried to seem shy, but strong. Although Hawke got a feeling he just came across as dumb.

"Of course." She smiled, Miranda felt oddly at ease with this man. Albeit he looked highly out of place in that metal plating he refused to take off. "Can I get you a drink?" She turned her back to him to get glasses, and Hawke sat back in his chair, smiling darkly to himself...it would all fall into place very, very soon.


End file.
